CANBERRA, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Australian wage growth has fallen to the lowest level in more than two years, official figures have revealed.

Data released on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that the wage price index (WPI) rose by 0.7 percent in the final quarter of 2024, spanning from the start of October through the end of December, and by 3.2 percent in the 12 months to December.

It marks the slowest quarterly wage growth since the first three months of 2022 and the slowest annual rate since the 12-month period to September 2022.

The WPI rose by 0.9 percent in both the second and third quarters of 2024.

Michelle Marquardt, head of price statistics at the ABS, said in a statement that the WPI rose by 4.2 percent in the 12 months to December 2023.

The slowdown in wages matched forecasts released by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the country's central bank, on Tuesday.

Responding to the figures, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that wages were growing faster than inflation.

"We want Australians to be earning more and keeping more of what they earn," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio, "We have got real wages growing again."

Data released by the ABS in January showed the headline rate of inflation fell to a three-year low of 2.4 percent in the 12 months to the end of December.

The ABS said on Wednesday that annual wage growth for the public sector fell to 2.8 percent in the December quarter from 3.7 percent in the 12 months to September.

At the same time, private sector wage growth fell from 3.5 percent to 3.3 percent. Enditem

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